#7 Seed ILLINOIS (20-11, 11-9)  vs.  #10 Seed Penn State (19-12, 10-10)
Tournament Central	Big Ten Tournament
Date | Time	Thursday, March 9, 2023 | 5:30 p.m. CT
Location	Chicago, Ill. | United Center
Tickets	Ticketmaster | Session 3 | All Session Pass
Television	BTN (Brandon Gaudin, Robbie Hummel & Rick Pizzo)
Live Stream	foxsports.com/live/btn | FOX Sports App
Radio	Busey Bank Illini Sports Network | Varsity Network App | SiriusXM 84, SXM App 84
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Printable Notes	Illinois | Penn State
Pregame Press Conference	Coach Underwood (March 7)
Stats	Illinois | Penn State | Big Ten | NCAA
Record Book	Illinois | Big Ten | NCAA
Shop	Online Store | Auctions
Social Media	@IlliniMBB | #Illini | @IlliniMBB | Facebook | YouTube

Head Coach Brad Underwood

Career Record: 223-104 (.682), 10th year
At Illinois: 114-77 (.597), 6th year
Big Ten: 66-52 (.559)
Big Ten Tournament: 4-3

Series Notes vs. Penn State

All-Time Record: Illinois leads 32-21
Streak: Penn State W-2
This Year's Meetings: PSU 74, #17 ILL 59 (12/10/22 @ILL) & PSU 93, ILL 81 (2/14/23 @PSU)
Record in the Big Ten Tournament: Illinois leads 3-0
Last Meeting in the Big Ten Tournament: ILL 64, PSU 63 (3/13/08 @Indianapolis)
Underwood vs. Penn State: 4-5

Illinois Basketball Under Head Coach Brad Underwood

• Big Ten's winningest team in league play over the last four seasons (55-25, .688)

• Four straight top-five B1G finishes

• Four straight winning records in B1G play

• Four straight 20-win regular seasons

• B1G-leading five first-team All-Big Ten selections in last four years

• 2022 B1G Champions

• Led B1G in Wins in 2021

• 2021 B1G Tournament Champions

Illini Big Ten Tournament Notes

• Illinois tied for fifth place in the Big Ten with an 11-9 record. Following tiebreakers among the four teams, the Illini have received the No. 7 seed in the 2023 Big Ten Tournament (BTT), marking the program's first time as a 7 seed.

• Illinois has the third-most all-time BTT wins with 31.

• Illinois has won three BTT championships (2003, 2005, 2021), tied for third-most in the league.

• Illinois is tied for the second-most BTT championship game appearances, advancing to the title game seven times.

• Illinois has advanced to the BTT semifinals 13 times, the second-most semifinal appearances.

• Illinois has made the BTT quarterfinals in all but five years, with those 20 appearances the third-most of any school.

• The BTT returns to Chicago for the first time since 2019. Illinois is 17-8 all-time in BTT games played at the United Center, winning the championship in 2003 and 2005 and making title game appearances in 1999 and 2000.

• Illinois is 21-7 in BTT games when it is the higher seed.

• Illinois owns a 17-7 record when playing its opening game of the BTT. 

• Illinois is 6-4 in Thursday games at the BTT.

• Illinois is 3-0 all-time against Penn State in the BTT. The most recent BTT meeting between the programs came in the 2008 first round, when former UI guard and current Illini assistant coach Chester Frazier made a game-winning layup with 3.8 seconds left to beat the Nittany Lions, 64-63.

• While Illinois is playing for the first time as a No. 7 seed, the Illini are 2-0 all-time in the BTT vs. No. 10 seeds.

• Illinois entered last year's postseason as an experienced team, with 25 career BTT games played. However, this year's active Illini squad has a total of just four BTT games under its belt, led by Coleman Hawkins (two games) and joined by Luke Goode and RJ Melendez (one game each).

• Coleman Hawkins is the only player on the current Illini roster who has scored in the Big Ten Tournament. Hawkins had 18 points in last year's BTT quarterfinal game vs. Indiana. 

• Senior Terrence Shannon Jr. has garnered All-Tournament Team honors at a conference tournament, totaling 33 points while leading Texas Tech to a championship game appearance at last year's Big 12 Tournament.

Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)